Do you really need most of the things that you pray for, are they indeed that important, or only important to you? I believe this misconception that has been around for a hundred or so years now, this believing of the lie that God is nothing but love, or that love is His defining attribute, has modified the Christian ideology far beyond what it actually is intended to be.
Love, in regards to how most people envision it, goes askew to 1 Peter 4:8, “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” and determines that it covers all of them, that grace means a free ride, and so all that we ask we expect answered in the way we asked. The pain that we have, whether it be physical or mental, when it arrives, we immediately ask for it to be gone, we have no desire to be inconvenienced by that which does not affect us in a positive manner.
“For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” (1 Cor. 11:30) Because certain of those in the way, those who were part of the fellowship of believers in Paul’s days of his ministry, were not following the will and Word of God, they were sick, some of them died. Now, you can say that the Lord allowed this to happen to them, or He caused it to, that matters very little, what does matter is the reason these things occurred to these people.
I would venture a strong guess that all of them were praying to be healed, and they probably had many around them that were doing the same thing, asking the Lord to be merciful to them, but they still died. For those, Paul made it quite clear, “You’re not obeying, and this is what happens when you don’t obey.” I will not say if this is still the way that the Lord works in the lives of those who trust in Him alone today, not only for their salvation, but for the leading of their lives, the Lord used the first century church differently than perhaps He uses us today.
The gifts of the Spirit in the way they were employed in those days have come to an end, (1 Cor. 13:8) so perhaps the sign of obedience has also. The verse is true, “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” (2 Cor. 5:7) and sight, visible signs of the Lord God’s will for how men are to live their lives when they have been crucified with Christ have ceased in this manner. The proof of this is self-evident, each time we rebel we do not get sick, not all die when they disobey, we have been given 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If indeed also Philippians 4:11 is true, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Then you must begin to wonder about the opening sentence in this short letter to you, do you honestly need everything you pray for?
The thought must be uttered, the Lord Jesus knew the end of His fleshly life on this earth, He knew it before the foundation of the world was laid, He knew there was no way around it, and He was obedient to the cross. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2) Yet He still prayed, “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matt. 26:39)
Our prayers matter, they must not be frivolous requests that we burst into the throne room of the Almighty with, they must be thought out, contemplated, they must be ordered in such a way that the intent of them is that the Lord would be glorified, not that we would stop being inconvenienced.
Does He care about our pain and suffering? Of course He does, the question is, do we care more about it than we do that He be glorified in them no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in. “Thy will be done” must always be the first priority of our prayers. “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” (Job 1:22) “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
